There's a chance that sunlight *might* help prevent breast cancer - especially for darker skinned women? I've been meaning to do a video on this study for ages but the time never comes, so let me just share it here. The study title is: Sun exposure is associated with reduced breast cancer risk among women living in the Caribbean: The Atabey study in Puerto Rico" (link: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9190767/ ) The study found that the more sun exposure women had, the lower the chances that they would develop breast cancer. And perhaps most intriguingly, this correlation was strongest among the darker skinner women. The study is from 2023 but I don't think I've found a single video on here about it.
As with all studies, caution is required. These findings do not *prove* that sunlight reduces breast cancer risk. This is an *observational* study, showing correlations - and correlations don't necessarily prove causation (mindfulblackdad.com/correlation-doesnt-imply-causa… ). To prove that sunlight reduces breast cancer risk, you would need to do something like a randomised control trial where you carefully control how much sunlight women are exposed to and then track them over several years to see what happens to women in different exposure groups (very hard to do this). Also, there are other factors that might explain the correlations found in the study. For example, it could be that the Peurto Rican women who spend more time in the sun also spend more time exercising, or are eat healthier, etc.
But with all that said, I think it is very likely that these correlations are indeed partly due to the direct impact of sunlight on the underlying causes of breast cancer. I've discussed sunlight lots on this channel - check my panafrican science podcast. More and more science is emerging showing that light and especially sunlight (and especially infrared light) penetrates deeply into our bodies and triggers positive, systemic effects. It would not surprise me if the positive benefits might be stronger the more melanated the skin is, because they can spend longer periods in the sun without any skin damage, and thus can benefit more from the sun's life-giving power. Also, eumelanin absorbs ultraviolet light - which is known to have several positive impacts on our health.
Ely Wananda
There's a chance that sunlight *might* help prevent breast cancer - especially for darker skinned women? I've been meaning to do a video on this study for ages but the time never comes, so let me just share it here. The study title is: Sun exposure is associated with reduced breast cancer risk among women living in the Caribbean: The Atabey study in Puerto Rico" (link: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9190767/ ) The study found that the more sun exposure women had, the lower the chances that they would develop breast cancer. And perhaps most intriguingly, this correlation was strongest among the darker skinner women. The study is from 2023 but I don't think I've found a single video on here about it.
As with all studies, caution is required. These findings do not *prove* that sunlight reduces breast cancer risk. This is an *observational* study, showing correlations - and correlations don't necessarily prove causation (mindfulblackdad.com/correlation-doesnt-imply-causa… ). To prove that sunlight reduces breast cancer risk, you would need to do something like a randomised control trial where you carefully control how much sunlight women are exposed to and then track them over several years to see what happens to women in different exposure groups (very hard to do this). Also, there are other factors that might explain the correlations found in the study. For example, it could be that the Peurto Rican women who spend more time in the sun also spend more time exercising, or are eat healthier, etc.
But with all that said, I think it is very likely that these correlations are indeed partly due to the direct impact of sunlight on the underlying causes of breast cancer. I've discussed sunlight lots on this channel - check my panafrican science podcast. More and more science is emerging showing that light and especially sunlight (and especially infrared light) penetrates deeply into our bodies and triggers positive, systemic effects. It would not surprise me if the positive benefits might be stronger the more melanated the skin is, because they can spend longer periods in the sun without any skin damage, and thus can benefit more from the sun's life-giving power. Also, eumelanin absorbs ultraviolet light - which is known to have several positive impacts on our health.
4 months ago | [YT] | 19